Ordered one of the £11 Chinese ESCs to have a look and see what it's all about.

Also bought one of the LCD program boxes linked above for updating the firmware etc which was £18.49 or something.

Looking forward to receiving them and having a play!

The escs are very good for the money, some have dodgy build quality but I've been lucky.
For £30 the hobbyking xcar version is a better buy, if you buy the £4 dongle you can program on pc.

£30 of new Chinese ESC and program box have arrived.

Both look good to my relatively untrained eyes.

Still waiting on some parts for my buggy and I shall give it a go!

Just to bump this... Finally powered up my ESC, connected the programming box to the laptop etc.

Programming box took the latest firmware update no problem and talked to the cheap Chinese ESC no problem. Was able to change the settings and send them to the ESC and save it all under a new profile.

Yet to use it in anger, so nothing to report re. smoothness etc. But I can confirm that the programming card linked here does indeed talk to the £11 Chinese ESCs, which means you can put together some pretty cheap electronics to get you going.

ESC
 

i have got one of these as well. i have yet to run this properly just a blast round the car back but all seems to run ok

good for the money

I've just got a hobbywing 3in1 LCD Programme box and ordered an £11.60 120a ESC to have a go. They will take a while to arrive but I wanted some general ESC advice.

The only course near me is WLRC an on road track. I've just got a suitable roller and picked up a cheap orca vxx to go with it since I wanted something a little higher end for this use (any point?). I don't have the programme card for it though so it'll be left on blinky unless someone at the track has a box.

My other cars are a couple of team associated rc10b4 for bashing, an Durango DESC210 again for bashing, and a new bz-222 with cheap ESC currently that my new hobbywing-programmed ESC will probably go in first.

If I like it I'd like to get a few more and replace my other sensored ESCs;

-Novak GTB (have matching motor)
-Speed Passion Reventon R (have many matching motors) with programme box
-Castle Mamba Max Pro upto 6s (have matching fast motor) with castle link
-Losi Xcelorin 3/2s with some other random motor.
-Trackstar TS120a gen1 with coming skylink - usb and setup - and maybe a motor.

I would eBay them as brushless combos and hopefully make some coin and make some bashers happy with tried and tested setups.

So my question is is the bargain 120a better then these for bashing (or as good when setup)? Anything I should keep? Does this seem a good idea to you?

I'm new at this and mainly bashing with my brother so some consolidation seems like it would be cool. Thanks.

Sorry for the long post I don't post much.

May I ask what motor you are using?

Still haven't used it... In fact, my car is waiting for its rebuild/ refresh after an accident last time out. Christmas and work have got in the way the last few weeks.

I'll report back when it's all sorted.

Ive just bought a couple of these for me and my son but havnt bought the program box yet.
Does anybody have a link for manually programming the esc?

Have you guys had a chance to run these yet? I'm just looking for a 2nd ESC for 1:10 2WD buggy, have a Hobbywing V3.1 in the first (with programming box) and unsure what to buy, don't have funds for another hobbywing, but ideally would use same programming box. The eBay 120a ESC's are interesting, although would prefer ASAP as I'm impatient but haven't yet worked out difference from buying at the higher price form a UK seller or direct from Asia as based upon the shipping times they all ship from there?

Buying from China may take 4+ weeks. You can buy the same 120a ESC's for around £19 from the UK I believe and they seem good and also accept the Hobbywing software.

cheap esc
 

i have 2x hobbyking xcar 120a speedos they are great in my opinion i have not flashed them with hobbywing software and they run great i have one in my b44.3 with a trackstar 8.5t and the other is in my bz222 pro mated up to a hobbywing xerun 10.5t the only issue i have had is breaks are not great they work but just not how id like tell me does it really make a difference when you do it coz im a great believer in if its not broke dont fix it:thumbsup:

Going back to the cheap TSKY 120a ESCs that we were talking about in the thread, I bought two, had a chance to try one out last week.

Now, of the two I bought, one programmed/updated immediately, the other one seemed dead (not even a fan spin) until I connected it to another battery or something then the fan span and I tried again. Not sure if a quality control issue, a random glitch or whatever but they were not consistent.

I updated the programming box, updated the ESC to god-knows-what-think-it's-v3 software, and soldered it in to my DESC210. Now the problem with that model previous 120A ESC was that it worked fine with 4mm LIPO but didn't work at all with 5mm Lipo. It was a turnigy trackstar 120A Gen1 so I don't know if it was a design flaw or just something with my specific ESC but it didn't like over half my batteries. So I swapped it out.

Now I will say right now within 12 mins I had broken my model (hingpin hangar on the rear), but for the time it ran (little boost, default 21/24' turbo settings) it was smooth, fast, and punchy with a good acceleration and noticeably better than my Trackstar 120A Gen1. I haven't the program card for that ESC though so it presumably had no boost or turbo at all set.

However, it's good, I can vouch for it for 15 mins, and I'm glad I made the investment and am hoping for good luck with it in the future.

What's your current experience?

One esc to rule them all
 

I was just about to write that I have used most of the big name esc over the years, tekin, lrp etc but now use the 120 amp xcar esc from hobbyking, flash it with the hobbywing / speed passion timing firmware and for me you can't beat it. Heavy duty components with full adjustability and They are £30!

Have you used the programming box to turn up th brakes?. They come as standard with about 70% brake activated, I also use that esc, I flash it with the hobbywing firmware and the brakes will skid if you have a powerful magnet in your motor .

My second (now out of three) of these ESCs continues to be tempremental, it didn't power up when I tried to program it but did the next day from a different battery. Both were charged enough. Confusing.

Anyway, had one run in an RC10B4 with Speed Passion 7.5t v3 motor with one of the working ones, nice punch, nice speed, good acceleration. As long as these continue to work I am very happy so far. I have a feeling the quality isn't there though, ebay reviews are very bad now (1* out of 5 for 2 reviews) but if I'm lucky TSKY have done me a big favour.

Note to everyone: 120A TSKY ESC has the wires soldered on the wrong A B C connectors, the colours aren't the proper ones, be careful when you do you wiring to go by A B C not the colours.

Best wishes
Zoea

After reading about these and a few people at my club using them i decided to buy some of these to try out. For the price of one genuine Xerun 120a Ver 2.1 i got five of the £ 11.80 copies. My theory being that if i get 2 or 3 good ones out of them it will be worth it, and they are perfect for clubnight buggies and vintage runners.

Once i'd found out about having to do the the 'motor wire swap' mentioned above to get them running properly, I powered a couple up a couple of weeks ago and tested outside. Perfectly fine, just needed a proper race day test.

So, last night at club i tested a copy on two identical 2wd Vega TRF201's, built exactly the same with Novak 7.5's, only difference being the speedos - one genuine Ver 2.1, one a £11.80 special.

I didnt even flash the software, just used the hobbywing cloned software that it came with as standard as a baseline, used a genuine HW 2-in-1 program box and set it up the same as the genuine Xerun. And i also left on the underpowered fan that comes with it, and kept the 14g wires.

I could not tell the difference. Really, the clone seemed as smooth and progressive as the genuine article straight out of the box. Just as fast, just as good on the brakes. It lasted half a practice, five heats and a 6 minute 'B' final - which i won btw :) - with no problems at all. Straight after the 6 minute final i checked to see how hot it was, and it was barely warm.

Result !

The only thing i can say is that the clone-car did sound slightly louder electronically on the brakes, if that makes sense. But as the brakes worked as strong and progresively as the original, i can live with that.

Speaking to other members that are using them, the only real blown failure was a very, very good driver that used one on his 4wd with a 6.5. That popped after getting extremely hot. His theory is there that he didnt bother swapping the factory 14g wires for 12g and there wasnt much ventilation around it compounding the heat problem. His thought are that if he had upgraded the wires, put a decent fan on it and had some good airflow around it, it would probably still be going fine now. One or two others are using them in 4wd with no problems, so they can last in 4wd if you get a good one and make sure its stays as cool as possible.

However, my personal thoughts are that if you do get a good one they are perfectly fine for 2wd buggies, but 4wd im not totally convinced on yet. Personally i wouldnt i'd risk them for Regionals or other bigger races on a 4wd, even with 12g wires, decent fan and good airflow. They may say 120a, but being sold for £11.80, i woudnt be suprised if they are more like 60a - 90a. So i'm keeping my genuine 120a Xeruns for my 4wd's, and the copies are now going in all my 2wd's and vintage runners.

It has been reported in the past that its a bit of a lottery if you get good ones or bad ones, but as others have previously said, if it initially lasts a few heats it will probably last as well as any other speedo. If it's going to blow due to sloppy workmanship, it seems to do it in the first 5-10 minutes of running, or 1-2 heats. And I've heard that some run and last fine but dont feel quite as fast or smooth as the originals, but they seem to be rare and are still useable in any case. They could have been early versions is my theory, as people i know that have got them in the last few months all seem to have good ones.

At the end of the day, you pays your money and takes your choice. I did, and im quite happy with what i got for the money.

I think ive read fans maybe 12v rated not 5v I have some ill check if so it will explain poor fan performane but im not 100% sure

I have a few and well happy with them
dave

I took some pictures of a real HW v2.1 vs a £11 Chinese one.

HW is always the left one.

http://i.imgur.com/L8b1IU4.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/hd9jItX.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/QOpnpBL.jpg

Whats the difference